United States District Court for the District of Maryland

	District of Maryland
	Fourth Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Bennett • Blake • Bredar • Paul Grimm • Quarles • Russell • Titus
	Senior Judges
	Black • Garbis • Harvey • Legg • Messitte • Motz • Nickerson • Smalkin • Williams • Young
	Magistrate Judges
	Day • Schulze • Laws • Gauvey • Gasner • DiGirolamo • Bredar • Connelly
	Former Judges

	District of Maryland
	Fourth Circuit
	;
	Active judges
	Bennett • Blake • Bredar • Paul Grimm • Quarles • Russell • Titus
	Senior Judges
	Black • Garbis • Harvey • Legg • Messitte • Motz • Nickerson • Smalkin • Williams • Young
	Magistrate Judges
	Day • Schulze • Laws • Gauvey • Gasner • DiGirolamo • Bredar • Connelly
	Former Judges

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Court
Judges

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(Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.)
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Contents

1 Court
1.1 Vacancy warning level
1.2 Jurisdiction
1.2.1 Cases heard
1.2.2 Case load
1.3 Clerk's office
1.4 History
1.4.1 Court history
1.4.2 Judicial posts
1.4.3 Notable decisions
1.4.4 Federal courthouse
1.5 Major news
1.6 See also
1.7 External links
1.8 References
2 Judges

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland is the United States district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Maryland.

Notable judges in this district include William Paca, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.

The United States Attorney for the District of Maryland represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Richmond, VA at the Lewis F. Powell Federal Courthouse.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland's vacancy warning level is currently set at blue. The court currently has one vacancy for its ten posts.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of Maryland (click for larger map)

The jurisdiction of the District of Maryland consists of all the counties in the state of Maryland.

There are two court divisions, each covering the following counties:

The Baltimore (Northern) Division, covering Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Balitmore City, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Washington, Wicomico and Worcester Counties

The Greenbelt (Southern) Division, covering Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's and St. Mary's Counties

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Richmond, VA at the Lewis F. Powell Federal Courthouse.

Cases heard

The District of South Carolina has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

Case load

Federal Court Case Load Statistics^*

Year	Starting case load:	Cases filed:	Total cases:	Cases terminated:	Remaining cases:	Median time(Criminal)^**:	Median time(Civil)^**:	3 Year Civil cases^#:	Vacant posts:^##	Trials/Post
2010	3878	4456	8334	4116	4218	10.8	7.4	471(14.2%)	22.7	27
2009	3723	4289	8012	4136	3876	11	7	547(17.7%)	12	17
2008	3644	4127	7771	4054	3717	11.0	7.0	538(17.9%)	1	19
2007	3692	4292	7984	4198	3786	10.2	6.3	507(17.3%)	0	20
2006	3766	4035	7801	4196	3605	10.3	7.4	176(6%)	0	18

^*All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website and reflect the calendar year through September. ^**Time in months from filing to completion.
^#This statistic includes cases which have been appealed in higher courts. ^##This is the total number of months that any all judicial posts had spent vacant that year.

Clerk's office

The District of Maryland has two main divisions and seven remote locations throughout the state. Offices are open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday excluding Federal Holidays and the day after Thanksgiving. The official Clerk of Court is Felicia C. Cannon and she can be reached at 410-962-2600. Please consult the chart below for more information on courthouse locations:

Location	Address	Phone number
Baltimore Division *	101 W. Lombard Street Baltimore, MD 21201	(410) 962-2600
Greenbelt Division *	6500 Cherrywood Lane Greenbelt, MD 20770	(301) 344-0660
Aberdeen Proving Ground	School Street, Building 204 Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005	(410) 278-1581
Andrews Air Force Base
Fort Detrick
Hagerstown	35 East Washington Street Hagerstown, MD 21740	(301) 790-0311
Naval Academy	Annapolis, Maryland
Naval Air Station Patuxent River	Lexington Park St Mary's County, Maryland

^[1]

History

Court history

The District of Maryland was established by Congress on September 24, 1789 with one post to cover the entire state. Over time 9 additional judicial posts were added to the court for a total of 10 current posts.^[2]

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the District of Maryland:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
September 24, 1789	1 Stat. 73	1
February 24, 1910	36 Stat. 201	2 (1 Temporary)
1912	Post Expired	1
March 3, 1927	44 Stat. 1346	2
May 19, 1961	75 Stat 80	4
March 18, 1966	80 Stat. 75	5
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	7
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	9
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 333	10

^[2]

Notable cases

This page is missing notable case information.

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Opinions of the District of Maryland.

Federal courthouse

There are two federal courthouses that serve the District of Maryland.

Major news

For new stories and other related material see Maryland judicial news.

External links

References

Share this Court:

Key:
(Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.)
0%	0%-10%
10%-25%	25%-40%
More than 40%

Contents

1 Court
2 Judges
2.1 Active Judges
2.1.1 Article III judges
2.1.2 Pending appointments
2.1.3 Senior judges
2.2 Past judges
2.2.1 Former Chief judges
2.2.2 Former judges

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the District of Maryland has 10 posts and 1 vacancy. The current Chief Judge is Deborah Chasanow. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Richard Bennett	1947	Baltimore, MD	W. Bush	04/10/2003 - Present		Frederic Smalkin	U. of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1969	U. of Maryland Law, J.D., 1973
Judge Catherine Blake	1950	Boston, MA	Clinton	08/14/1995 - Present		John Hargrove	Harvard-Radcliffe College, A.B., 1972	Harvard Law, J.D., 1975
Judge William Quarles	1948	Baltimore, MD	W. Bush	03/14/2003 - Present		William Nickerson	U. of Maryland, B.S., 1976	Catholic U. of America, J.D., 1979
Judge Roger Titus	1941	Washington, DC	W. Bush	11/06/2003 - Present		Marvin Garbis	Johns Hopkins U., B.A., 1963	Georgetown U. Law, J.D., 1966
Chief Judge Deborah Chasanow	1948	Washington, DC	Clinton	10/20/1993 - Present	2010 - Present	Alex Harvey	Rutgers U., B.A., 1970	Stanford Law, J.D., 1974
Judge Ellen Hollander	1949	New York, NY	Obama	12/28/2010 - Present		Andre Davis	Goucher College, B.A., 1971	Georgetown U. Law, J.D., 1974
Judge James Bredar	February 6, 1957	Omaha, Nebraska	Obama	12/16/2010 - Present		Frederick Motz	Harvard University, B.A., 1979	Georgetown University, J.D., 1982
Judge Paul Grimm	December 26, 1951	Yokohama, Japan	Obama	12/3/2012 - Present		Benson Everett Legg	U. of California, Davis, A.B., 1973	U. of New Mexico Law, J.D., 1976
Judge George L. Russell, III	1965	Baltimore, MD	Obama	5/14/2012-Current		Peter Messitte	Morehouse College, B.A., 1988	U. of Maryland Law, J.D., 1991

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the District of Maryland has 10 judges on senior status currently. This is a list of the current senior judges on the court:

Judge	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Senior	Bachelors	Law
Senior Judge Alexander Williams	Clinton	08/18/1994 - 5/8/2013			Howard U., B.A., 1970	Howard U. Law, J.D., 1973
Senior Judge Benson Legg	H.W. Bush	09/16/1991 - 6/8/2012	2003 - 2010	6/8/2012 - Present	Princeton, A.B., 1970	U. of Virginia Law, J.D., 1973
Senior Judge Walter Black	Reagan	04/21/1982 - 10/20/1994	1991 - 1994	10/21/1994 - Present	Harvard, A.B., 1947	Harvard Law, LL.B., 1949
Senior Judge Marvin Garbis	W. Bush	10/25/1989 - 06/13/2003		06/14/2003 - Present	Johns Hopkins U., B.E.S., 1958	Harvard Law, J.D., 1961
Senior Judge Alex Harvey	L.B. Johnson	09/22/1966 - 03/07/1991	1986 - 1991	03/08/1991 - Present	Yale, B.A., 1947	Columbia Law, LL.B., 1950
Senior Judge Frederick Motz	Reagan	07/12/1985 - 12/16/2010	1991 - 2001	12/17/2010 - Present	Wesleyan U., A.B., 1964	U. of Virginia Law, LL.B., 1967
Senior Judge William Nickerson	H.W. Bush	05/14/1990 - 06/10/2002		06/11/2002 - Present	U. of Virginia, B.A., 1955	U. of Maryland Law, LL.B., 1962
Senior Judge Peter Messitte	Clinton	10/20/1993 - 08/31/2008		09/01/2008 - Present	Amherst College, B.A., 1963	U. of Chicago Law School, J.D., 1966
Senior Judge Joseph Young	Nixon	07/29/1971 - 07/31/1987		08/01/1987 - Present	Dartmouth College, A.B., 1948	U. of Virginia School of Law, LL.B., 1951
Senior Judge Frederic Smalkin	Reagan	09/26/1986 - 01/07/2003	2001 - 2003	01/08/2003 - Present	Johns Hopkins U., B.A., 1968	U. of Maryland Law, J.D., 1971

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge William Connelly	03/31/1995 - Present	U. of Maryland, B.A., 1973	U. of Maryland Law, J.D., 1976
Magistrate judge Charles Day	2/18/1997 - Present	U. of Maryland '78	U. of Maryland Law '84
Magistrate Judge Thomas M. DiGirolamo	11/06/1998 - Present	Rutgers College, B.A., 1978	Pennsylvania State U. Law, J.D., 1981
Magistrate Judge Susan Gauvey	02/26/1996 - Present	Rosary College, B.A., 1970	Northwestern U. Law, J.D., 1973
Magistrate Judge Beth Gasner	05/1999 - Present	Indiana U. of Pennsylvania, 1979	Georgetown U. Law, J.D., 1983
Magistrate Judge Jillyn Schulze	10/24/1994 - Present	Western Maryland College, B.A., 1973	U. of Maryland Law, J.D., 1980
Magistrate Judge Stephanie Gallagher	04/18/2011 - Present	Georgetown U., B.A. (1994)	Harvard Law, J.D. (1997)
Judge Timothy J. Sullivan	2012-Present	Marquette University, 1984	Georgetown University Law Center, 1987

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Frederic Smalkin	2001 - 2003
Robert Watkins	1970
Roszel Thomsen	1955 - 1970
Edward Northrop	1970 - 1981
Frank Kaufman	1981 - 1986
William Caldwell Coleman	1948 - 1955
Frederick Motz	1991 - 2001
Alex Harvey	1986 - 1991
Walter Black	1991 - 1994
Benson Legg	2003 - 2010

In order to qualify for the office of Chief Judge in one of the federal courts, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as Chief Judge. A vacancy in the office of Chief Judge is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The Chief Judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position. Unlike the Chief Justice of the United States, a Chief Judge returns to active service after the expiration of his or her term and does not create a vacancy on the bench by the fact of his or her promotion. See 28 U.S.C. § 45.

These rules for Chief Judges in the federal judiciary have been in effect since October 1, 1982. The office of Chief Judge was created in 1948. Until August 6, 1959, the position was filled in each federal court by the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as Chief Judge. From then until 1982 it was filled by the senior such judge who had not turned 70.